Tennessee prisons chief resigns after failed execution of Christa Pike

Tennessee's head of prisons is to resign over the failed execution of Christa Pike.

Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada he will resign days after the execution of Christa Pike was botched, the governor said.

The head of Tennessee’s prison system is resigning, Governor Bill Lee announced on Saturday, the first major shake-up since the stunning failed execution of Christa Pike landed her on a ventilator at a hospital. Frank Strada, commissioner of the Department of Correction, will step down this month, Lee said. Strada said in a statement that resigning was “in the best interest of Tennesseans” while an independent review determines what happened on Wednesday when the state failed to execute Pike...

Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada put in his resignation and will step down from the top role later this month.

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) —  The prison commissioner in the southern United States (US) state of Tennessee has resigned over the botched execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike, Governor Bill Lee said Saturday. Lee said in a statement that commissioner Frank Strada would leave his post this month. Pike's lawyers say she is in critical condition, unconscious and on a ventilator in a hospital, after her execution by lethal injection went wrong on Wednesday. Pike, 50, survived two injections of the normally lethal substance pentobarbital as punishment for the murder of Colleen Slemmer in 1995. It was the second failed execution in Tennessee this year. The state halted an execution in May after medical staff failed to tap a vein in the prisoner's arm. Lee said he thanked Strada for "his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment." In the same statement, Strada said, "I continue to believe the Department (of Correction) carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol." Lee, who previously denied Pike clemency, has halted further executions through the rest of the year while a review is conducted. Had the drugs killed Pike, she would have been the first woman executed by the state in more than two centuries. In the United States, only 18 women have been executed since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.  

The botched lethal injection of Christa Pike led to the halting of all scheduled executions in the state.

Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada put in his resignation and will step down from the top role later this month.

Tennessee prison chief quits after failed execution of Christa Pike

The head of Tennessee's prison system is resigning after the failed execution of Christa Pike, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday.

Frank Strada, who oversaw the process that left Christa Pike unconscious and hospitalized, quit as an independent review begins.

Pike was placed on a ventilator and remained unconscious in a hospital, her attorneys said Friday

Frank Strada said in a statement that stepping aside "is in the best interests" of the state as an independent review is carried out to determine why Pike's execution failed Wednesday.

The head of Tennessee’s prison system is resigning after the failed execution of Christa Pike

The Tennessee prison chief who oversaw the botched execution of murderer Christa Pike has stepped down from the position.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The head of Tennessee’s prison system is resigning after the failed execution of Christa Pike, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday.

Tennessee's prisons chief has resigned after the failed execution of death row prisoner Christa Pike.